BCE (TSE:BCE) Upgraded at CIBC

CIBC upgraded shares of BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) from a neutral rating to a sector outperform rating in a research report report published on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on BCE. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of BCE from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from C$35.00 to C$47.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. National Bankshares set a C$35.00 price objective on shares of BCE and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. TD Securities cut their price target on shares of BCE from C$39.00 to C$38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Desjardins increased their price target on BCE from C$41.00 to C$42.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$36.41.

BCE Trading Up 0.7%

TSE BCE opened at C$32.24 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of C$30.06 billion, a PE ratio of 4.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s 50-day moving average price is C$32.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$32.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73. BCE has a 12 month low of C$28.73 and a 12 month high of C$36.85.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported C$0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. BCE had a return on equity of 1.39% and a net margin of 1.10%.The company had revenue of C$6.05 billion during the quarter. On average, analysts expect that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 43.09%.

About BCE

BCE is both a wireless and internet service provider, offering wireless, broadband, television, and landline phone services in Canada. It is one of the big three national wireless carriers, with its roughly 10 million customers constituting about 30% of the market. It is also the ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrierthe legacy telephone provider) throughout much of the eastern half of Canada, including in the most populous Canadian provincesOntario and Quebec.